HCPlive (7/18, Grossi) reports RAND Corporation investigators have “addressed the two standard procedures used to compare suicide rates among veterans and nonveterans: direct standardization and indirect standardization.” Their “analysis consisted of four years’ worth of data (2017-2020) published by the VA on suicide counts and population sizes for both veterans and nonveterans.” The data analysis “revealed significant differences in age and sex distribution between the veteran and nonveteran populations” in that “veterans tended to be older and predominantly male.” The findings were published online July 18 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Understanding the Complexity of Analyzing Veteran Suicide Rates,”Giuliana Grossi, HCPlive , July 18, 2023

Medscape (7/18, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports, “Patients with risk factors for dementia, such as diabetes and hypertension, experienced a 48% slowing of cognitive decline after wearing a hearing aid for three years,” investigators concluded in findings from the 977-participant ACHIEVE study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference and simultaneously published online in The Lancet.
        
HealthDay (7/18, Murez) reports, “Untreated hearing loss may contribute to cognitive decline in several ways, including by making the brain work harder to hear, at the detriment of other mental functions such as thinking and memory,” and “may cause the aging brain to shrink more quickly, the study suggested.” Additionally, “hearing loss may also ultimately result in brain atrophy as people become less socially engaged.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (7/17, Monaco) reports “discontinuation or dosage change of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be more common than one would think, according to a qualitative study of online drug reviews.” Among “667 SSRI reviews posted to an online health forum by patients or caregivers, 335 posts were about discontinuing their medication – the most common type of medication change, reported” the researchers. The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (7/17, Gotkine) reports, “Use of oral contraceptives…especially the first two years of use, is associated with an increased risk for depression, with the association consistent with a causal relationship,” investigators concluded in a “population-based cohort study using data from 264,557 women from the U.K. Biobank.” Additionally, “Familial confounding was examined in 7,354 sibling pairs to validate causality.” The findings were published online June 12 in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.

Related Links:

— “Oral Contraceptive Use May Increase Risk for Depression,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay , July 17, 2023

Psychiatric News (7/17) reports, “Children and adolescents who have eating disorders are more likely than those without eating disorders to use most mental health and non-mental health services,” investigators concluded after examining “the health records of 1,449 patients aged five to 17 years who had eating disorders and” then comparing “them to the health records of 7,245 patients in the same age group in the general population who did not have eating disorders.” The findings were published online July 14 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Youth With Eating Disorders More Likely to Use Health Care Services, Psychiatric News , July 17, 2023